Free Money? Don’t Miss Out on Tax Credits

September 24th 2009 by News Team

Do you think a spare £4.2 billion could come in handy? It seems that many of us are failing to take advantage of available pension and child tax credits and are missing out on £4.2 billion in tax credits.

According to research by Unbiased.co.uk, over a quarter of pensioners could leave their pension credits untouched, meaning that there will be £2.4 billion of unclaimed cash. Another £1.85 million will be unclaimed by the 8% of families who have the right to child tax credit privileges.

Making a claim is simple. You can ask for a form from the Tax Credit Helpline. If you claim other benefits, such as Income Support or Jobseekers Allowance, your Jobcentre Plus should be able to help you with your tax credits claim form. The good news is that if you are not sure if you qualify for tax credits it is still worth making a claim, and they can only be backdated three months from the date of application.

David Elms, Chief Executive from the website, said: “People are missing out on record quantities of money by failing to claim tax credits to which they are entitled. The system has been set up to help those on lower incomes and quite simply if you don’t claim your credit, it expires.”